Connect with us

30 Sep 2015

A government-led drive to attract more
international students to New Zealand has resulted in CPIT forming new
alliances with two tertiary institutions in India.

This move was led by Education NZ, a crown entity
and lead organisation in marketing New Zealand's education industry overseas.
India is New Zealand's second-largest and fastest-growing source of
international students.

The first of these agreements is a Memorandum of
Understanding signed by CPIT and Gujarat Technological University, to cooperate
in a Graduate School for Smart Cities Development. These are urban areas built
with integrated systems, including government services, transport and traffic
management, energy, health care, water and waste.

CPIT and Gujarat Technological University
have entered a study agreement. Pictured from left, CPIT
international market sector manager Sushrutha Metikurke, CPIT Head of Computing
Nathan Rountree and CPIT supervising engineering tutor Rob Dantzer, with
Education New Zealand Business Development Manager Shailaja Vora and GTU's
Graduate School of Smart Cities Development Hon. Director and Professor
Rajnikant Patel.

CPIT had agreed to become a smart cities
knowledge partner, CPIT International Director Beth Knowles said.

"CPIT fitted into the initiative well because of
its IT and graduate programmes. The Christchurch rebuild under smart city
principles also aligns GTU and CPIT very well."

Creating
exciting opportunities for more international and domestic students to work
together would ensure they were well prepared for a rapidly changing world that
was becoming more connected, she said.

The Gujarati institution in India's west is
involved with Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City, a smart
city currently under construction between the cities of Ahmedabad and
Gandhinagar. Its main purpose is to provide high quality physical
infrastructure so that finance and tech firms from elsewhere in India can move
their operations to a purpose-built, less expensive location.

Part of the agreement would also involve the
co-supervision of Information and Communication Technology PhD students from
GTU, Knowles said.

The second memorandum agreement is between CPIT
and Acharya Education Services Private Limited on behalf of the Acharya
Institutes in Bengaluru, South India.

Its main purpose was to work on pathway
arrangements for the Acharya diploma students into CPIT's Bachelor of
Engineering Technology, Knowles said. An initial pilot scheme would involve
taking the 10 best applicants and placing five of these students into CPIT's
engineering degree course, she said.

"This is quite ground-breaking. There's not a lot
of New Zealand institutes doing this in India."

The Gujarat and Acharya agreements follow a
newly-formed partnership between CPIT and the Jaipuria Institute of Management,
with six students from the Lucknow and Delhi campuses visiting
Christchurch on a two-week study tour recently.

The CPIT Foundation is funding six business
students to attend the Jaipuria institution, next January.

CPIT and Gujarat Technological University in
India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to become knowledge
partners in the development of "smart cities". Both institutions share common
links to the rebuild and establishment of modern and integrated cities, which
present both practical and academic learning opportunities for both countries.
Pictured, Christchurch's bus exchange and emergency services precinct under
construction earlier this year.